Estel
by LeoLuin
Summary: Meeting a human child could be quite dangerous, and even more when the boy is the heir of Isildur himself. What fate awaits when we meet one? Third story in The Feline Series Also genre friendship No slash


Disclaimer: I don't own any character of this story, but I do own Luin, the blue snow leopard.

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><p>Sequel to <strong>The first true hunt<strong>

Written by LeoLiun

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><p><strong>Chapter 1<strong>

**For the first time**

It was a nice and warm summer day, and the lord of Imladris enjoyed the nice weather in the garden. That was until a young boy ran to him followed by a russet puppy. The wolf pup barred the blood from the big dark wolf Ice paw, which made the first alliance with the lord of Rivendell. And it was the puppy if the current alpha pair. And it was the only odd colored wolf in the pack, most of them were in grey tones.

The child was now just four years old, whose dying mother carried the sleeping child through the gates of Rivendell, seeking refuge for at least her son, who was the last heir of Isildur. The child was the hope for the race of men so the ancient elf named the child Estel. Lord Elrond clearly remembered the night from one year ago.

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><p><span>Flashback<span>

The night was cold and wet. The rain poured from the sky for at least three days and the lord of Imladris feared that this weather will bring floods in the near future, when he looked out of the tall window in his study.

Suddenly Raenfer ran through the door.

"My Lord! My Lord there is an emergency!" The light brown haired elf with stormy grey eyes exclaimed.

"What is the matter Raenfer." The ancient elf asked.

"We need you to come to the healing chambers. Quickly my Lord." The elf said in a hurry.

When the raven haired elven lord entered the healing chamber he immediately recognized the fair haired woman laying on the bed holding a raven haired little boy.

"Gilraen!" The ancient elf exclaimed when he looked over her. She bared lots of various wounds on her body. "Gilraen what happened to you?" Lord Elrond asked in a hurry.

The fair haired maiden opened her eyes when she heard the voice of the raven haired elven lord of Rivendell. She looked at the ancient elf and weakly said. "We were ambushed by orcs. My … my husband Arathorn he was killed by the foul beasts." The maiden cried. "I managed to escape together with my son, Aragorn." She said and stroked the boys head and her voice was getting weaker. "Please lord Elrond. Please take care of my son." And with the last ounce of her energy she forced the boy to lord Elronds' hands.

The ancient elf looked at the boys stormy eyes and then at his mother, but he could not do nothing more. The maidens' eyes were closed and her chest was not rising anymore. She passed on to the halls of her fathers.

The lord of Rivendell looked back at the now sleeping boy and kissed him on his forehead. "Now you will be known as Estel, son of Elrond." And he took the boy outside of the room to his chambers, where he placed the sleeping boy, cover the child with a blanket and kissed him on the forehead again.

End of flashback

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><p>"Legolas! Ada! Legolas is here!" The little boy cried across the garden, followed by a russet wolf pup, and ran to the lord of Imladris.<p>

"And how do you know that this elf is Legolas, penneth?" The ancient elf smiled at his adoptive son.

"Elrohir and Elladan said so. And he is riding a white stallion." The raven haired boy said and crossed his little arms on his chest.

"Hurry ada! Come quickly!" The little boy called and grabbed the ancient elfs' sleeve. When the lord of Rivendell moved, Estel let go of the sleeve of the ancient elfs' robe and ran to his two elven brothers. While the little boy was running he turned his head and shouted. "Come Ash lets greet Legolas together." The boy laughed.

The puppy looked at the ancient elf and bowed his head.

"Let us go penneth. We are surly needed in the greeting of the young prince." Lord Elrond said and the russet wolf pup ran after the small boy, and he too headed to the direction of his son.

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><p>When the lord of Imladris got near the gates of Rivendell, the ancient elf did not see any rider yet but heard the cry of a feathery hunter above him. As he looked up, the raven haired elf saw a grey falcon which every end of a feather bared fiery red tip which made the impression that it is burning.<p>

The falcon folded its' wings and entered a free fall and just above a rock it spread them again, safely landing on it. The preying bird flapped its' wings a few times and let out a loud cry. To his answer a few neighs were heard.

Lord Elrond looked through the gate and so three white horses slowly walking on the path. The raven haired elf immediately recognized the golden haired prince of Mirkwood. The young prince was accompanied by two other light brown haired elves on white steeds. But still the golden haired prince even if he was two thousand and five hundred years old, he was still smaller than other elves in his age. But to a mere human he looked just around nineteen years old or even younger.

"Mae govannen Legolas Thranduilion." Lord Elrond bowed when the young prince and his traveling companions slowly approached and dismounted their white steeds.

"Mae govannen my lord Elrond."And the golden haired prince returned the gesture.

"What brings you here penneth?" The ancient elf asked and smiled at the young elf.

"I am just carrying some important messages for you, my Lord, from my father." Legolas said and took out some scrolls from Ninims' packs.

"I will be returning to Mirkwood shortly." Legolas said and his face fell.

"Do not be sad penneth." The ancient elf said and placed his hand on the young princes' shoulder. "You will come visit us again soon."

"Aye I will and the next time Luin will join me too." Legolas said and his face lit up in happiness.

"Speaking of Luin. Where is she? Well you never leave your realm without her." The raven haired elf asked.

"Well the last time we were on our patrol we were ambushed by orcs and they injured her ankle. The healers said that if she had gone on the journey her paw would not heal properly and would be damaged even more and she would never use that paw again. So that is why she could not join me this time." The golden haired prince said and sighted.

At that the little boy, who was now getting a bit bored behind the lord of Imladris, most because of could not follow the conversation of the two elves, tugged on the back of the ancient elfs' tunic.

"Oh I am so sorry penneth." The ancient elf smiled. "I want you to meet someone." And the raven haired elf stepped aside and pushed the small child to stand in front of him.

The small child was blushing a bit in front of the small young prince, but he gathered all the courage he had and looked up. "Mae govannen, Legolas Thranduilion. I am Estel Elrondion." The small edain said in elvish and bowed as he seen the other elves.

"Mae govannen, Estel Elrondion, I am really happy to meet you." Legolas smiled at the small child, who beamed with happiness.

Estel smiled from ear to ear, but then something suddenly came to his mind and turned around. When he turned back he held the russet pup in his arms. "And this is Ash." The child said and the puppy barked.

"It is nice to meet you too Ash." The young prince said and patted the wolf pup and then the small boy.

The boys' grey eyes then flicked to the falcon that just landed on Ninims' pack and cried out.

The golden haired prince turned back and saw what caught the attention of the dark haired boy. The Mirkwood prince stretched out his arm, to which the falcon flapped its wings and landed on the outstretched arm. "This is Cinder." Legolas smiled and lowered the arm with the falcon nearer to the boy.

Estel with wide eyes looked at the odd colored, but majestic hunting bird and hugged the pup in his arms a bit tighter. "Can I pet him?" The stormy grey eyed boy asked.

"Aye you can pet her little one." The young elven prince smiled and lowered his arm even more for the little boy to reach the birds' head.

Estel slowly lowered Ash on the ground and approached the kneeling golden haired elf and the falcon carefully.

The falcon cried loudly as the boy outstretched his small hand and he instinctively jerked it back in fright.

"Do not be afraid penneth." Legolas said and smiled. "She will not hurt you."

The little edain tried again and successfully patted the falcon on the head. Estel grinned from ear to ear and then looked carefully at the hunting bird. It was a lot smaller than the eagles that Estel saw around Imladris, which traveled with some lore-masters, or those which visited lord Elrond from time to time. What caught his gaze the most were the oddly colored feather tips, which were fiery red and the other thing were its' long and sharp curved talons.

"She is a very beautiful but small eagle." The boy said.

Lord Elrond laughed. "Cinder is not an eagle penneth. She is a falcon. She is much faster than an eagle" And the ancient elf picked up the little edain.

Legolas also stood up and the majestic bird took off to the sky. The young prince came to his white stallion and took the packs off, before Ladrochen took Ninim away, and threw them over his shoulder.

"We should get inside and let you rest penneth." The ancient elf looked at Legolas and then back on Estel in his arms, who started yawning a bit. "Both of you. You can also come Ash." Lord Elrond smiled at the whining puppy, which was now in Legolas' arms.

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><p>The next few days were really happy for the young prince and the little boy and lord Elrond knew that this was the birth of inseparable friendship between a man and an elf. Maybe as strong as the one that the youngest Mirkwood prince has with his feline companion, Luin. Thinking about the cat, the ancient elf frowned, to which his eyebrows almost formed a line, he did not know how will she react when she will meet the boy for the first time or rather what will Estel do when he will see her. The great snow leopard had a really kind and gentle nature, but she is still very big cat. Then the raven haired elf looked out of the window in his study and watched the pair playing with Ash and another group of wolf pups and Cinder was watching them from a nearby statue.<p>

"Estel will be really sad tomorrow when Legolas will leave." The ancient elf said.

"Aye he will, but Legolas will return in fall." A voice of lord Elronds' advisor was heard behind him.

When the ancient turned around he saw Glorfindel and Erestor standing in front of him.

"Aye, he will old friend." Elrond smiled at his longtime friends.

"And he will not come alone like now." Erestor said.

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><p>The next day Ladrochen brought Ninim and the two other steeds to the gates of Rivendell.<p>

"I will see you soon little one." Legolas smiled at the almost crying boy. "So do not cry penneth." The golden haired prince hugged the small child.

"And when will that be?" Estel asked, not wanting to let go the young elf.

"I will come back in few weeks in fall." Legolas said and patted the boy on the head.

"You promise?" The boy looked to Legolas' face.

"Aye I promise." Legolas softly smiled and brushed the tears from the small childs' cheeks with his thumb.

"Okay then have a safe journey." Estel smiled a bit and hugged Legolas again.

"Hannon le penneth."The golden haired princeling said and kissed the small boy on his forehead.

Legolas walked to lord Elrond. "Hannon le for your hospitality lord Elrond." Legolas bowed his head.

"You are most welcome penneth. Have a safe journey to your homeland and say hi to Luin from me." Lord Elrond smiled.

"Aye I will lord Elrond." The golden haired prince smiled and mounted his steed and his companions did the same.

Cinder who was sitting on Ninims' back flew away high in the sky and let out a loud cry as a farewell.

"Return here soon Legolas!" Estel shouted after the elven prince.

"I will come in fall so wait for me till then!" Legolas shouted back when he stopped Ninim, turned his head and waved to the little edain.

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><p>In a few days Legolas was just crossing the bridge and the gates to Mirkwood palace when he heard a purring voice above him.<p>

"_Welcome back home Legolas."_ Luin said from the branches of a nearby tree. _I missed you so much. _The great cat said when she slowly got down from it and muzzled to the princes' chest.

"And I missed you too Luin." Legolas said and scratched the cat between the ears which was followed by a loud purr.

"_How was your journey and stay in Imladris?" _The great feline asked out loud, as she started speaking as normal elves do.

"It was great we did not encounter any problems during our journey. And I have a surprising news to tell you." Legolas said and his smile grew bigger.

"_What is it mellon nin?" _The bluish leopard asked.

"Lord Elrond adopted a little edain child. Estel is a really sweet child and I want you two to meet as soon as possible so I am going to ask father to let us go to Rivendell in fall for a bit." Legolas said.

"_I do not know if your father will let up you only just arrived." _Luin said.

"He will. You will see." Legolas smiled and patted the cat on her head.

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><p><strong>TBC…<strong>

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><p><strong>Translations:<strong>

Ada- dad, daddy

Adar – father

Edain- human

Hannon le- Thank you

Mae govannen – well met

Mellon nin- my friend

Penneth- young one

Ion nin- my son

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><p>I hope you all liked the first chapter of the new story :) so please R&amp;R.<p>

Your LeoLuin ;)


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